Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department faces big cuts
Apr 18, 2013, 8:02 AM | Updated: 8:27 am
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has decided to spare all but one family support center as they finalize a plan to deal with $1.6 million in federal funding cuts.
The centers help connect low-income families with parenting services, home nurse visits and other resources.
There had been a proposal to cut as many as five of the 12 centers in Pierce County but board members didn’t like that plan.
Instead, the health department decided to take the majority of the hit to their anti-smoking program. The cuts will include fewer compliance checks on stores selling to minors and cutting back enforcement efforts of the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.
The board of health also decided to take a $500,000 cut to their reserves and eliminate about a dozen positions within the department.
